Hey, Im a student doing Mechanical Engineering and am considering buying the solidworks student edition to help with my final year project. Being a student, Im not really wanting to spend money before knowing the facts. Reading through the forum it seems student edition is a step below the commercial edition. Im wondering what this involves and what limitations and differences there are between the two? Any help would be great.

Probably your best option would be to talk to your local VAR (Value-Added Reseller). Those are the people who would sell you Solidworks and support you afterwards. They are the best people to answer your questions, but beware that they are there to make money as well! Do you know who your local/regional VAR is? If not, have a look at this Solidworks link: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/purchase/varlocator.htm If you let us know whereabouts you live, I'm sure that forum members there would share their VAR recommendations.